While We're Still Young
by TealyBob
Summary: Rebekah leaves town. And now, twenty one years later, she's come back to "help" Matt with his curse. But she has no idea that by ridding the curse, she's just unleashing something worse than a simple spell.


"It doesn't matter, Nik!" Rebekah told her brother yet again. She was standing in the doorway, bag in hand. "You've already disowned me, don't pretend to care now," she accused, emotion thick in her voice.

Klaus took a step closer to her, his face covered in anger. "You leave now, you may never return."

"You know that's not true," she said much more softly. "You know that I'll come back for you eventually."

Klaus shook his head. "How do I know that? How do I know that you won't just abandon me like I've done to you so many times before?"

Rebekah sighed, showing her disappointment in him. "Because I'm not you," she answered simply. Before anything else could be spoken, she turned and left the manor.

Her bags were already in the car. She'd been planning on leaving last night, but when Klaus had found out, he'd dragged their argument out all night, just to lose in the morning. Rebekah looked up to her truck and saw the silhouette of someone in her passenger's seat. She realized within seconds who it was. He'd found out somehow about her leaving, or else there was no reason he'd be there. She braced herself for the unpredictable conversation she was about to have as she opened her door and got into her tall truck.

"Does this mean you're coming with me?" she asked without looking at him as she shut her door. She was joking in a humorless way.

"Why are you leaving?" Matt asked, getting straight to the point.

Rebekah rolled her eyes. He didn't like her, so why was he in her business about it. "What's the problem with that? I have nothing to do with this town. Nothing's keeping me anchored down," she said without giving him any actual eye contact. "Me leaving would be a blessing to this dump," she sneered.

"How do you know that Klaus won't go on a killing spree with you not here?" he tried her, looking for any sort of flaw that could happen.

Rebekah almost growled in irritation as she finally gave him an angered look. "Niklaus has made it clear he doesn't care about me. And so have you; so why are you here?" she demanded.

Matt raised his hand into the air a little ways and then just let if fall back down into his lap while he shook his head. "I don't know, Rebekah," he admitted. "Maybe because I'm afraid Klaus is going to go off his hinges–"

"Klaus doesn't give a damn!" she shouted, accidentally lashing her hand out and striking him on the arm. Right after her sentence ended, she pulled her hand back quickly, looking at the damage she'd done. His arm was now bleeding. A straight line of red formed across the arm of his shirt. The hit wasn't brutal, but it was enough to practically reassure that she had just killed any chance she had at Matt trying to keep her in Mystic Falls. He would surly want her out after that. She could almost see the hurt and scared thoughts racing through his mind.

Matt watched her for a few seconds, his face clearly showing he didn't know what to do. But he quickly understood that he probably shouldn't be with her at that time. He nodded and put his hand on the handle of the door. "Well…as long as you're sure," he said.

They both knew he wasn't referring to Klaus. He was referring to her leaving. To her just ending every connection she had with Mystic Falls. To her just abandoning everyone, including him. But it wasn't like they cared. Half the town had already tried to kill her. She was unwanted there. And that was the thought that kept her moving in the direction of leaving. Matt opened his door and slowly pulled himself out of the car. He turned around and looked at her with a bit of a discouraged look.

"Goodbye, Rebekah," he said in his typical accepting-the-situation-calmly voice. He waited long enough for Rebekah to nod to him before he closed the door and walked away from her.

"Goodbye, Matt," she sighed to herself. She wasn't upset about leaving him; she was upset that she hadn't tried harder. There was a connection between them, no one could deny that. Just that incident right there had proven that he was one of the only people ever to actually listen to her. She'd injured him, but he hadn't completely freaked out and ran away screaming. He understood her to some extent. He gave her a chance. But she just hadn't gone after him in the way she wished she had. She'd lost that chance.

It was kind of all too late now. She couldn't back out of her word. Originals were known for their word, and she'd violated it enough times already. So she'd leave. For how long, she didn't know. But she wouldn't be back any time soon.

.

Twenty one years later, Rebekah was living as the wife of a very wealthy governor. She'd thrown away her phone when she left Mystic Falls and tried to forget about her life. She pretended she was human. She pretended she was happy. She had everything. Dakin, her husband, was loving towards her even when she acted like a complete bitch, and the town she practically ruled over loved her as well.

Everything was perfect in her life.

Until Elena showed up at her doorstep.

Elena was aged. Her hair was lined with gray that obviously had been attempted to hide. Her eyes were sad and relieved both at the same time. She looked like she hadn't slept for days. This didn't make sense. Elena was a vampire. Or at least…she was.

"What happened to you?" were the first words out of Rebekah's mouth as she watched Elena through her front door entrance.

Elena shook her head. "Too much to just tell you quickly. But it doesn't matter," she waved that off. "You need to help Matt."

And that was what landed Rebekah back in Mystic Falls. Elena didn't stick around to give the details – or even the broad review of what had happened since she left. She just told Rebekah to get back to Mystic Falls as fast as possible, and then left.

Rebekah didn't know what she was doing as she walked into the Grill. She just knew that she needed to find Matt to help him for some reason still unknown to her. She could only imaging his hair was gray from age and his eyes wrinkled and wary. Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked with the look that said she was on a mission, which resulted in people moving out of her way obediently.

He wasn't at the bar where she'd been told she'd find him. Just a few bums that looked nothing like him. She looked around the entire area, seeking him out but finding nothing of his familiar ways. She looked out for his walk, his voice, his laugh, his face. But he was nowhere to be seen.

She took a deep breath, not happy with being pointed in the wrong direction. She turned around to walk out of the Grill, but stopped abruptly as she came face to face with a blonde with intense blue eyes. His face was smooth, and his smile brighter than ever. And he didn't look a day over twenty. It took her less than five seconds to recognize his hard features; it would have taken less time if she'd been looking for _this_ Matt. But she'd been expecting a forty year old man, not the Matt she'd left years ago…

"Rebekah?" Matt asked, a smile slowly forming on his face.

Rebekah slowly exhaled while she let a smile of her own take over. "Hello, Matt." But just as soon as the relief had hit her, it was followed by a sudden sick feeling in her stomach. "Oh, my God. You're a vampire."

He frowned slowly at her. "What?" There was a second of confusion, then it all cleared and he chuckled. "Oh, face, right," he said as he lifted a hand to point. "No, I'm not a vampire."

Rebekah stared at him like was crazy. "Course you are. How else do you explain how you haven't aged at all?"

Matt put his hands in his pockets and nodded. "I'm kind of…in a time lapse," he explained.

Rebekah shook her head barely. "What the hell does that mean?"

Matt held his hand out, ushering her to sit down at a table that was to their side. Rebekah watched him carefully as she sat down. She didn't quite trust him right now. She'd never even heard of a "time lapse." For all she knew, he could be some sort of demon that her brothers managed to create while she was gone.

Matt leaned on the table as he watched Rebekah. "About three days after you left, Klaus _did_ go crazy. He, like, for some reason took his anger out on me. I don't know how, but he somehow got a witch to curse me." He leaned back and gestured to himself. "So I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life. Never growing a day older. I don't need to eat or sleep or anything."

Rebekah frowned at him. "I don't understand. You're just…stuck in time?"

Matt nodded with his eyebrows up. "Basically, yeah. When the curse hit me, I'd just finished eating. So, I never stop feeling like I just ate." He laughed. "I think I'm incredibly lucky for not needing to go to the bathroom when it hit me," he chuckled, trying to ease the awkward mood.

Rebekah smiled tiredly. She'd definitively missed his charming and cute ways. She was sure she'd be having an even better time, though, if she knew what was going on. "Can you please hold the adorable smiles until after I apprehend what you're going on about?"

Matt shrugged as he took a deep breath. "I don't know what else I can tell you," he said.

Rebekah opened her mouth as she inhaled deeply and sat up straight. "You're forever stuck in a certain part of your life, is that all there is to it?"

"I guess, yeah," he nodded. "But, it really isn't that big of a deal. I just get bored out of my mind some times. Really, I don't mind. What about you? Why are you back?"

"I was told you needed help," she said in a flat voice. "That's the only reason I'm here."

Matt frowned at her. He hadn't had any contact to her for twenty one years, and then she just shows up when she thinks he's in danger? Where was she when he really _was_ going to die?

"Who told you I needed help?" he asked.

Rebekah crossed her arms. "Do you?" she demanded. "Because if you don't, I don't know why I'm here wasting my time. You look happier than a fairy, so I really think I'm done here." She stood up from her seat. Suddenly, all her happiness and reminiscence had just vanished as she felt like he'd stood her up in a way. Tricked her to come back somehow.

Matt stood up and reached for her hand. "Wait. Please don't just leave again," he pleaded.

Rebekah slumped her shoulders and turned back around to face him, her expression a tad annoyed. "What do you want, Matt? I have things I need to get back to."

Matt's face went from begging to anger in a matter of seconds. He was trying to control himself, but Rebekah had seen the same look all her life. He released her arm. "Right. Sorry," he mumbled while he stepped back. His features made him look like a thought suddenly struck him. But he'd had the thought with him the entire time. "Actually, do you think before you leave…I mean… Will you at least stay and talk? Let me buy you a drink?" he asked, nodding back down at the table they had just abandoned.

Rebekah's eyes flickered to the table for a second before shrugging back at him. "What would be the point? I'm leaving again, anyway."

"What would be the point in just leaving again?"

"I have a life, Matt. I have a husband and home and job…" She trailed off as she thought about what she was using as an excuse. It wasn't fooling either one of them. "I don't want to give myself any strings to leverage me down to this damn town. I hate it. The less time I spend here, the better."

Matt chuckled humorlessly. "You know, once upon a time, you liked this town. You liked me," he told her.

Rebekah watched him with sad eyes. "Once upon a time, Matt, I didn't care. It was all just a game. I wasn't living for anything."

"And you are now?" he questioned her, frowning and waiting to hear what her response could possibly be. But she didn't respond, so he continued. "You're living a fake life, Rebekah. If anything is a game, it's what you're doing now. You say you have a husband, but I'm betting my money that he's human and you don't actually care for him."

Rebekah frowned at him like she was offended, and she was. "You're just going to assume that I don't love my husband?" she hissed. "You don't know me. How dare you stand there and criticize."

Matt leaned forward. "Yeah, well what's worse? Me criticizing you, or you running from all your problems and acting human?" he asked. For some reason, he really wasn't happy with the way she returned. She was the same, yes, but he'd been hoping that she'd be more…excited to see him.

Rebekah shook her head. "I'm not running from any problems. I have no problems," she informed him with raised eyebrows. "I'm just avoiding-"

"Your fears," Matt finished for her, being spot on. "You left Klaus because you were afraid he was going to really hate you some day. You left the town because you were afraid something bad was coming. And you left me because you were afraid I was going to reject you again. And you just can't take being told no, can you?"

Rebekah reached up and stuck him across the face. "Let me just get one thing across to you," she growled. Matt stood with his hand on his jaw, frowning at her. "You do not know me, so you cannot tell me about the choices I've made. I came back here out of kindness to help you; and now that I see you're absolutely fine, I'm going to leave. End of conversation."

She turned to leave him again. This time, she got to the doors of the Grill before something clicked in her mind. She'd left Matt on bad terms twenty one years ago, and it had haunted her in her dreams. He was one man she truly cared about, and she just kept leaving him. She thought about going back to him to make things right that second – but what would she say? Sorry? No, because she wasn't. He'd changed, and he was being, on a certain level, cruel.

So she didn't say anything. She turned to look at him over her shoulder for a few seconds, and their eyes locked. He was no longer angry, but inwardly upset. She could only imagine she looked torn, not holding the confidence she had just seconds ago.

But she cut their sweet moment short as she turned and left the building. She wasn't lying when she said she didn't want to be held down to that town any longer. There was nothing there worth fretting about – except for Matt, and she'd just had a fight with him during what should have been their reunion. All she really wanted to do was forget that day even happened. Just go home to her life and continue living.

Continue living. She wasn't living… He had been right; she was just acting like a human. Sooner or later, the state would notice she wasn't aging, or her husband would die, and everything would go downhill. It had been a mistake coming back to Mystic Falls. Now she was doubting everything in her life. All because Matt had to show up and concern her.

"Rebekah!"

Rebekah turned around on the sidewalk and looked to see Matt walking up to her, having followed her out the Grill. She didn't say anything in fear that she would outburst on him again. He stopped next to her and stared straight into her eyes, making her feel known. "I'm sorry," he said very quietly. "I've been waiting for you to come back since the day you left, and when you finally do, I completely screw it up…"

Rebekah felt her cheeks flush a bit. This. This was how she'd wanted their reunion to go.

Matt continued as Rebekah felt herself get whelmed up. "I only started pressuring you because, well, I guess I hoped it would convince you to stay," he admitted, speaking hesitantly. He chuckled. "But instead I was just a complete dick," he shook his head.

Rebekah gently smiled. "It's alright. It's mainly my fault. I'm just…" She trailed off and looked up, not knowing what she was trying to say.

"No, none of it is your fault. I'm the shooter here."

Matt looked down at his feet and scuffed them on the ground a couple times. "I lied a second ago," he said randomly.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "About?"

"Being fine." He looked back up to her, shaking his head. "None of this is fine. I can't leave this town. Literally. That's why I had to come back out here and make this right. Once you leave, I can't go find you. Something to do with this damn curse."

Rebekah watched him closely, feeling remembrance and relief rush over her. He was finally acting like the Matt she left. "What can I do?"

Matt smiled and took a step closer to her, raising an eyebrow. "Well for one, you can promise not to leave until I do know you," he suggested.

Rebekah smirked up at him. "And how long would that take?"

Matt shrugged. "A couple days. A week. This afternoon. I don't know. It all depends on how much there is to learn."

Rebekah's eyes fell down to his jacket. The collar was sticking straight up, and Rebekah felt the need to flatten it down. She'd never been one for Dracula looking outfits. "Well, there's really that much to know…" she said softly, like she was ashamed of it.

Matt beamed. "Well there's absolutely nothing for you to learn about me that you don't already know, so this should be fast," he joked.

Rebekah dropped her hands back down to her sides and looked back up to his blue eyes. She wanted to stay and get to know him, she did. But she didn't know if she could.

Well, that was a lie. She knew she could do whatever the hell she wanted. It was just a matter of _wanting_ it bad enough. Rebekah took a deep breath. "So we get to know one another, then what?" she asked. "Where do we go from there? You'll still be cursed, and we'll still be…" She frowned. "Carrying on with our own lives…" she finished with a bit of a question, like the sentence confused her.

Matt nodded. "I know the witch that cursed me. She only listens to Originals, so I figured we were in luck…"

Rebekah frowned. "Wait, you expected me to come back? You knew?" she demanded.

Matt shook his head. "No." He stared down at her with a pained expression on his face. "No, I thought you wouldn't. For twenty one years, I've waited for you to come back and fix me. Or, my life, anyway," he chuckled. But his sad attempt at being funny was quickly drowned by the sadness on his face. "But I've been looking for you. I thought that you would come back sooner or later, just to maybe see me, or something."

Rebekah looked down, not liking his words. She felt like she had failed him by not returning earlier. She'd been living in a mansion while he waited. Waited for her.

Matt inhaled deeply. "But now you're here," he said optimistically. "So I guess my life can start finally progressing, huh?"

Rebekah shook her head. "I can only help you get out of your curse, Matt." She continued to watch her feet. "But no, I'm no one's progression. I'm their downfall… Always have been, always will be." Her thoughts clouded her mind for a moment, giving them silence. But she shook it off and looked around at anything and everything but his face. "So don't get your hopes up." And with having said that, she turned and walked back into the Grill, waiting for him to follow so that she could beat herself up by getting to know the perfect boy that finally came around in her life, just to knock it all back down by realizing she couldn't be with him.

Matt, however, knew the outcome of the situation, and smiled to himself as he pictured her glowing face when they finally left town together. He'd seen it in his dreams, and he knew, from other spirits informing him of things, that he was seeing the future. And that was why he waited. Because he knew that she and him would become best friends, and lovers, and run away together right as hell broke loose. With him being at the middle of the storm…

* * *

**I know this seemed rushed, but it had to be because if I went into any further detail with this beginning chapter, I'd have given too much away and you guys would have a ton of ideas in your heads! haha!**

**This was originally a one-shot, but that is _not_ how it's turning out... I've got a lot planned for this X) Stick around.**

**Thank you for reading, you kind soul. Now, be one of the fairest in the land and leave a small token *Review*. **


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